An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer

Digitally remastered edition of this 1959 album. If this album invokes a feeling of d‚j… vu, then there is a simple explanation - the album An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer is a live recording of the studio album More Of Tom Lehrer. Everything is the exactly the same - identical tracks laid out in exactly the same running order. Whether Tom had hit a creative wall or merely wished to exploit the songs for all they were worth is not recorded, but Tom would do exactly the same again with Revisited - a live version of the songs that originally appeared on the 1953 album Songs By Tom Lehrer.

"If, after hearing my songs," Lehrer says in this disc's liner notes, "just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while." Makes him sound like a modern punk, eh? Not so, though. Lehrer, ever the king of jolly vitriol, recorded these still potent parodies in the '50s--and the best of them, "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," "The Masochism Tango," and "The Elements" (which joins science with Gilbert & Sullivan) remain both nasty and striking. Musically, Lehrer comes across like a demented Cole Porter, wrapping sophisticated, showy tunes around his acerbic jokes. Lyrically, he's a clear forebear to folks like Phil Ochs and Barry Crimmins, who also cloak their commentary in comedy. --Michael Ruby

Similar Products:

• The Tom Lehrer Collection (CD/DVD)
• Songs & More Songs By Tom Lehrer
• That Was the Year That Was
• In Concert
• Revisited